Was she always a professional chef though? I thought that only came about later.

The stories around Rose are actually very dark.

Or even worse, it's eventually rewarded.

Spray tan / teeth whitening + the baby powder / lotion are in the same episode and are essentially parts of the same gag, Ross going overboard to try to impress his date.

And the other hot woman was just about certifiably insane.

Because every job that isn't within the realm of TV glamorous is worthless and deserving of derision.

Compared to a struggling actor, coffee shop waitress, and whatever the hell Pheobe and Monica did (I know Monica wound up as a chef, but early on, what did she do? I forget), yes Ross made lots of money.

But he was the largest of the Friends.

I absolutely hated Friends for the 1st season because of Ross' pining for Rachel. I couldn't watch it until they were together because he was just so f'ing annoying.

I didn't see either Mel or Donny as demons, just jilted lovers. Mel wanted to maintain appearances for a certain period of time and Donny wanted to sue the pants off of Daphne. Both were done out of hurt, not genuine evil intentions.

I think Niles staying "loyal" to Maris had more to do with him fearing what she might do if she had any fuel for a divorce case. Niles seemed afraid of Maris, not loyal.

It's not just that. Yes, sitcoms tend to pair everyone up for whatever reason. But they also seem to exist in this space where the characters have no people in their lives other than the ones on screen.

I agree. I would, however, exclude Niles Crane from your comparison list. He didn't doggedly pursue Dafne, he just pined over her, and when she learned of his affection for her, it wasn't too long before they got together. Unless I'm forgetting something, it's a very different situation than the one described here…

Thank you. That clears it all up.

Probably not. I would think the episodes are referred to in syndication by some kind of ID # like S5E14 or the like.

I missed it. When did Jerry become Larry? I assume that Larry was always his name and he was just too polite to correct anyone?

I agree, but would like to add two things:

An indispensable addition to anyone's collection!

Even though it impaled him. But I think he kinda liked that.

I'll ask him because I don't recall.